Final Fantasy X
by Shamara Ambrose
Summary: This is a novelization of the RPG game. Tidus, a pro Blitzball player, teams up with Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri, Auron, Rikku, and a summoner named Yuna, to destroy Sin and save Spira. Please R&R!
1. Crumbling Hope

PROLOGUE: Crumbling Hope

THE FIRELIGHT WAS BEGINNING TO DIE OUT and fade with the bright yellow sunset on the collapsing horizon. The setting sun promised the end of the day's harsh journey, but it also marked the beginning of tomorrow's fierce trials. Their mixed gazes locked onto the glorious painting on the ether, all seven of them unable to express in words the sorrow all their heavy hearts carried.

In one forlorn pile were their highly valued weapons that had inflicted the greatest damage on the worst of their enemies: the Brotherhood—the finest sword of them all, carved out of pure blue crystal—the Hunter's Spear—a powerful spear with both physical and magical properties—the Shimmering Blade—a heavy, but wondrous blade capable of formidable attacks—the Echo Staff—a gold flat sphere on the top that had the supremacy to summon upon magnificent entities to aid them in times of desperate need—and the blitzball—the tiniest of all items with plastic bubbles and bright blue stripes and jagged waves, it had done its worth of destruction with darkness and silence.

The desolation of their surroundings only added to the abandonment felt throughout all the members of the group. The only thing worse than the barrenness of their crumbling and ruined environment was the bleakness of their future.

They all huddled solemnly around a dying fire. Insignificant sparks of light burst from the cooling embers, but nothing lighted their darkened hopes. Finally, the silence becoming too much to bear, he gathered up his strength and stood before his comrades—his constant companions, his fellow guardians, his only family left, his beloved friends. He thought he had something to say, and he did, but not to them.

Slightly hesitant, the once-smiling, still-optimistic, sun-bleached lad walked little by little until he approached the young woman he had come to love in their never-ending quest for the Calm. She was young, naïve somewhat still, only seventeen years under her belt, and yet she had to assume the responsibilities of a wiser, more mature adult and quickly. For the weight of the world rested on her thin shoulders, even more so than they did on his or on anyone else's.

How often had he closed his eyes at night, praying to some godlike being or force, to take the immeasurable burden resting on her soul upon his own? —Too often had he prayed and too little had he received answers to his prayers.

She was still sitting down, like the rest of them were, when he approached her. He stood at her side and even though he did not look directly at her, he could feel her intense eyes looking up at him.

She had vibrant gemstones for eyes; one the color of the emerald grass that once produced life in the form of blossoms and the other the stunning hue of the sky on the clearest, brightest day of summer.

He knew that she would find no solace in words, so he simply placed his hand on her shoulder. It was a gentle touch meant to promise her an eternal bond and nothing less than that. She felt it in her own lively heart what needed to be done, so she nodded her head, closed her sparkling eyes, and reopened them.

He removed his hand and walked away from the group and found a spot on a hill overlooking the ruins of some destroyed city. _Unbelievable_, he gasped.

Minute light spheres of violet, indigo, and ruby drifted aimlessly above the ruined city, illuminating the small pockets of darkness. Be that as it was, no matter how many spheres of light there were, it would never fully illuminate the shadows that had taken their stronghold over the devastated city he now gawked at.

They were the only light left in the world and it was up to them to eradicate the shadows cloaking the cracked stones and rusted machina.

He stared at this breathtaking sight, somewhat in awe, and somewhat in dread. His heart sunk to the pit of his stomach, knowing what this all meant.

_Listen to my story_, he beseeched. _This . . . may be our last chance._


	2. The World Before

CHAPTER ONE: The World Before  
  
ZANARKAND SPRUNG TO LIFE at night. Dazzling colors lunged out from every direction. Even if it was nighttime, Zanarkand's radiance gave the impression of the midday. Tonight, however, the people of Zanarkand were more excited than usual, like an already hyperactive two-year-old on a sugar rush. Tonight was one of the greatest events to ever occur in Zanarkand and no one was going to be left out.  
  
Several fans were standing around in the middle of nowhere, making small talk to one another, until a greatly-appreciated busybody approached the groups and spread his announcement from one cluster to the next.   
  
His message brought about a chorus of giggles from the teenaged girls dressed appropriately for the special occasion. Thrilled to the point that they could no longer contain their enthusiasm, the girls and guys dashed off until no one was left and they had all abandoned where they once stood and chatted pointlessly.   
  
From this place of loneliness, a figure materialized out of the thin air, wearing a black hood over his small head, concealing everything but his tanned arms and legs and feet. He followed silently, but briskly, behind the fleeing admirers, before he dissolved into the air from whence he had come.   
  
***  
  
Showtime, Tidus thought with a grin curling the corners of his rosy lips and medium-plump mouth. He had been through this exact scenario a thousand times before, but no matter how routine it got, it still felt like the "first time."   
  
His heart thudded in his exposed six-pack abs. It hammered against his golden skin so vigorously that he could look down and see his silver triple-knot pendant suspended from the matching chain quivering with the rapid pulsations.   
  
Keep your cool, Tidus, he told himself for the sixteenth time in the last thirty seconds. They all love you and adore you. Just gotta stay calm.  
  
The second his heavy yellow boots hit the platform of the steel ship, the ladies commenced their screaming and cheering. They seemed to have radar for detecting his presence. He had hardly made a sound coming on board to the vessel.  
  
Taking a deep breath before moving on, Tidus drew near to a group of small kids, no older than nine or ten.  
  
Immediately, he was flocked with requests.   
  
"Can you sign this?" one of the kids pleaded eagerly, holding out a blitzball for Tidus.   
  
He took it from him, replying, "No prob!" and signed his celebrated name onto the surface of the equally well-known blitzball.   
  
The instant he was finished with his first autograph, another one of his young male admirers lifted up his own blitzball and cried out, "Please!"  
  
"Alrighty." With a soft chuckle under his breath, Tidus signed his second blitzball and another one. Hearing the plea of a child, "Me, too!" Tidus's only answer was, "Take it easy." It was what he had been telling himself all night.   
  
He finished his third signature and advanced to two girls holding blitzballs. Not bad looking, Tidus mused. He surveyed both of them, one of the girls in a bright pink top and the other in the kind of funky blue outfit one would come to expect in a fast-paced city like Zanarkand.  
  
"Can I have your autograph?"   
  
He immediately traced the voice back to the girl in the blinding pink top and he heard her nasal voice and he attempted to mask his displeasure.   
  
"Of course!" Tidus chirped, taking her blitzball, signing and then giving it back to her. The other girl, the one wearing the blue, proceeded to hand him her blitzball.   
  
Before he even finished signing the second of the pair's blitzball, he heard the words, "Good luck tonight!"   
  
He grinned. "Nothing to worry about!" he promised them. He spun the blitzball he was signing on his finger and returned it to its proper owner.   
  
One thing he always loved was making each and everyone of his fans feel special or unique, different from the others in some way or another. He had probably ten thousand legions of adorers and he knew he couldn't remember every single name, but he tried his best when he could to make someone feel special. For some odd reason, he liked these two girls.   
  
"Oh, if I score a goal . . ." Tidus started, pausing to think for a moment. And then, he raised his arms in the air in a victorious gesture and continued, "That will mean it was for you, okay? What seat?"  
  
Before the girls responded, they giggled acutely. "East block, in the front row!" one of them yelled.  
  
"Fifth from the right!" the other added with a lot more tranquility and easiness in her voice.  
  
"Got it!"   
  
Tidus flashed them one of his best, pearl-white smiles and his round blue eyes shone with merriment. Before he knew it, he was surrounded by dozens of blitzball fans, all vying for his attention, for Tidus, the pro Blitzball player, to look them in the eye.   
  
To achieve his attention, one of the little kids emerged from the crowd and balanced a blitzball on his forehead and tottered awkwardly in front of Tidus. That certainly got his attention. He didn't have to look at the time to know, however, that it was certainly time to leave. The Blitzball Tournament was starting up soon. Sadly, he had to take his farewell.  
  
"Well, gotta go! Cheer for me!" Tidus tried to always sound cheery, even if the moments he experienced weren't always happy. It was something he had picked up a long time ago, as a child. Besides, he was confident. He was, after all, the greatest pro Blitzball player since . . . since . . .  
  
Suddenly, the group of kids whose blitzballs Tidus had signed earlier, shouted in unison, ". . . two, three! Teach us how to blitz!"  
  
Their enthusiasm made Tidus want to stay and miss the game, just to show the group of potentials the ropes of Blitzball. Unfortunately, this particular game was too damn important to miss. "Hey, I got a game to play!" he said, having it sound whinier than he had first intended.  
  
"Then teach us after!" one of the wannabe-Blitzball players persisted.  
  
Tidus pondered it for a moment. "Maybe tonight . . . um . . . well . . ." He stammered, uncertain if he had the time.   
  
A mysterious voice came from behind Tidus. "You can't tonight," the soft and eerie voice told him. No one else around Tidus seemed to be able to hear or see him.  
  
Tidus reconsidered his previous answer. "I mean . . . tomorrow," he restated.   
  
"Promise?" They sounded so hopeful and they would be so devastated if he didn't keep his word. Luckily, Tidus was one of the rare breed that could.   
  
"Promise!" he reassured them firmly.  
  
Graciously, the three kids in front of him made a series of gesticulations out of respect and then bowed to Tidus.   
  
Now, he was off to crush his Blitzball opponents.  
***  
In Zanarkand, it was believed that one could touch the sky, for indeed, even the buildings seemed they could.   
  
In spite of the fact that the lights were small, there were several of them, all shining down on the path that Tidus took to get to his desired—not to mention required—destination.   
  
He glanced around at his surroundings. He had walked down this same lane dozens of times before, but he had never taken the time to admire the scenery. The skyscrapers did not just scrape the sky; they exceeded the atmosphere.  
  
His favorite parts of Zanarkand, his much beloved home, were the waterfalls that gushed down the sides of the high-rise buildings. There was no other city that was as technological as Zanarkand. No other place, as far as Tidus was concerned, could come close to his home.   
  
The aroma of hot, spicy foods awakened the hunger inside of Tidus as he sprinted to the smooth surface of a cement bridge that also doubled for a street. He looked up to his left to see one of Zanarkand's enormous buildings with an equally massive billboard on its side. His eyes met the glare of a man long dead, a man he still resented for as long he would live.   
  
Tidus stared at it intently, like a game of who-blinks-first. Only, of course, Tidus would not allow even the man in the billboard with the red bandana to out blink him. But the man would never move; he would remain as stubborn today as he was ten years ago. Nothing would ever change that.   
  
I have better things to do, old man, Tidus snapped angrily, years of frustration beginning to emerge on the surface. Like upstaging you at your own game. Blitzball is my sport now. It's my name they cheer for, not yours.  
  
Giving up, Tidus smirked and started dashing off for the stadium where he would make his presence felt once again. As he headed for his destination, he listened to the sound of the blitzball announcer's voice booming out even past where the stadium was.  
  
"I was in a coffee shop, running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Jecht, gone, vanished into thin air!"  
  
Hero? Yeah right, Tidus differed.  
  
"My dad must have been his biggest fan. I knew how sad he'd be. Heck, we all were that day. 'Zanar,' I says to myself, 'What are you thinking?' I went running straight back home. We sat up talking 'bout Jecht all night. My dad and I never talked so much."  
  
I could say the same thing, Tidus reminisced, nearing the stadium.  
  
As if realizing his mistake, the announcer apologized. "Whoa . . . Didn't mean to reminisce, folks. Anyways . . . Ten years later, the Jecht Memorial Cup tournament is today! The two teams that had won through the finals are . . . of course, the Abes from A-East and the Duggles from C-South. I know there's a lot of people out there today to see the star of the Abes! In just one year, he's become the team's number one player! He's Jecht's blood, and the new hope of blitzball! What kind of super play will he show us today? Will we see his father's legendary shot? I don't think I'm the only one excited here, folks!"  
  
You're sure not.  
***  
Finally, he was there. As he approached the blitzball stadium however, tons of screaming fans surrounded him like a pack of hyenas to their prey.   
  
"Make way, make way!" Tidus called out to them. "Coming through, sorry!" he yelled as he gently pushed through the rabid crowd. "Hey, I'm gonna be late! Hey, let go of me!"  
  
He found an opening and tore right through, managing to make it through the soaring archway entrance of the stadium in one piece. 


	3. We Called It Sin

CHAPTER TWO: We Called It "Sin"  
  
RELAXING BEFORE THE BIG GAME was always a vital part of the actual game. It was as important as playing, but Tidus needed enough rest for the tournament tonight. He sure didn't want to let his fans down.   
  
He sat alone in a pool of water at the stadium, at the bench where he would be coming off of soon enough to tackle on his opponents. Beads of sweat trickled down his tanned face. His vivid blue eyes were closed, but at the sound of the water beginning to fill the large sphere in the center of the round coliseum, he opened his eyes.   
  
It looked like a ball of pure, brilliant energy forming in the center of the circle, only it began to expand. Beams of what appeared to be jagged lightning bolts shot out from the circle and stretched their arms to the very edge of the sphere. The enormous strips of orange and black holding the sphere in place were rotating slowly.   
  
The game was just beginning. Tidus could see now the door that was opening for where his opponents would come out. He waited, anticipating the victory he would certainly savor.   
***  
Outside of the stadium, herds of multi-colored shirts continued to press and push their way into the entrance. The large, stone statues of past blitzball players poised above them watched over them as they crowded through the entrance. Only blitzball had the ability to turn out people like this. It united Zanarkand, or divided those who were against the Abes.   
***  
In another place, not too far away from the stadium, a mysterious man perhaps in his mid-thirties clothed in red stood at the tip of one of the ledges protruding from a highrise building overlooking the full beauty of Zanarkand. Underneath him, he could see the hundreds of splendid buildings that were an ode to Zanarkand's strength, power, awesomeness, and technology. Behind him, the night sky rippled with an ominous vibe. He held his white jug to his side, knowing that this would be a moment to either celebrate or weep.   
***   
  
With a blitzball in his hand, Tidus rose until he stood out amongst all the other people in the stands. They lunged from their seats to cheer him on, waving their fists furiously, and screaming until their throats grew hoarse.   
  
The bright light of the energy circulating inside of the sphere cast a ghostly radiance on Tidus as he stood staring directly into the center. The ball of energy became just a little bit bigger before it burst, like a supernova. The sudden force of the explosion forced Tidus to take a small step back, turning off to the side just a little. The fans whooped and hollered even more as a small spurt of adrenaline took control in their body.   
***  
Behind the mysterious man in red, a colossal tidal wave approached. It swelled into a gigantic ball, perhaps the size of Zanarkand itself. He held up his white jug to another tidal wave approaching in front of him. He knew what was coming and he knew what his duty was.  
***  
Finally, the blitzball match was under way.   
  
The opposing team, the Duggles, started out with the blitzball first, but Tidus was on him immediately, like a piranha to any piece of flesh they could find. Tidus threw himself full force on the Duggle, roughly scrambling for possession of the ball. But he would not give it away so easily. More brawling occurred, more physical contact welcomed, as the fans roared outside of the water-filled sphere.   
  
With a little bit more wrestling, Tidus managed to snatch the blitzball away and darted to the big red sign behind the triangular net that denoted the goal he needed to reach.   
  
But the Duggles would not make it easily for him. Someone swam up behind him and wrapped his forearms around Tidus's neck, attempting to squeeze the blitzball from out of his possession. The Duggle succeeded, his strength overpowering Tidus's for the moment. They snatched the ball away and threw it headlong into the water, trying to pass it to another teammate to get an open look at the net. The blitzball stood out in the center of the sphere, alone, before it was accompanied by the several bodies that wanted to get it.   
  
Without warning, Tidus swam up to the blitzball and seized it. He only carried the ball in his hand for a split second before he launched it into the water again. One his teammates in yellow caught it, but a female Duggle was on him immediately and managed to pry the blitzball from his possession. She held it as she spiraled around upside-down like a slow tornado. She looked more like a water ballet.  
  
In what seemed to be a rage, Tidus charged at one of the Duggles, slamming into him with enough force to send him flying out into the stands through the water sphere, leaving a small torn hole in the globe where he had come out. Tidus stood in front of it, crossing his arms and a grin on his face as the hole quickly patched itself up and the game continued.   
***  
He was no longer at the top of the highrise building. He was now walking through Zanarkand. One of his black boots splashed a pool of water, but the droplets did not fall back down to the ground. Instead, they flew into the air behind him, as if they were being attracted, pulled by some force. And they were.   
  
The tidal wave had now transformed more into a ball of water, advancing upon the city. Citizens not attending the blitzball tournament tonight were dashing through, trying to get as far away from the water as possible. It looked like it was going to engulf them all.   
  
Whereas everyone else was scrambling, the man remained calm, even though the imminent water was right behind him. It was now rising even higher than one of Zanarkand's soaring, spiral-topped, castle-like buildings. The top of the buildings were being ripped away, like something that was torn like liquid from a dream. It was swallowing the city now, all the buildings were being torn away and pulled towards it.   
***  
The blitzball soared through the water and slammed against the net of the Duggles' goal. The score was now one to zero, in favor of the Zanarkand Abes. Two of Tidus's teammates high-fived each other in the water. The fans were now in a total crazed frenzy with the first point and Zanarkand's, nonetheless.  
  
The blitzball was now rising to the top of the sphere, untouched and loose. Both teams rushed towards the ball. But it was too far up.   
  
This was Tidus's opportunity to stun the crowd. He lunged himself straight forward into the air, breaking through the north pole of the water, like a torpedo shooting straight up forward. The blitzball now also escaped the water, and Tidus was aligned perfectly with it.   
  
His arms were spread out and he was flipping over backwards, preparing to do a bicycle kick to send the blitzball back into the watery atmosphere. As his leg was geared up to strike it, he now saw the immense ball of water. He could see on the front of the water ball small little holes where dozen of what seemed like "water bullets" shot out from the ball.   
  
His eyes widened in horror at what was happening when the water bullets struck some of the many structures of Zanarkand and exploded into a flat circle of colorful water which tore apart all that it touched. It was a beautiful scene, actually, if it had not been so devastating.   
  
Water caused the buildings to explode, looking like huge fireballs from a distance. Everything was now submerged in the water as it continued to raise higher, covering the buildings and taking it down into its watery grave. Even the stone statues and stone structures could not withstand the force. They crumbled to pieces, falling away into the power of the water.   
  
Tidus flew down to the ground, but he managed to clutch onto a girder just above the stadium, as below him, the stadium was swallowed up and being demolished in the process in the water. His black gloved hands were too slippery. One of his hands fell away and gripped it again, but then fell away, taking his other hand away until he was suddenly freefalling through the air.   
  
The big sphere of water fell apart with the new wave of water hitting it.   
  
The whole world went white.   
***  
Tidus found himself standing at the smashed entrance of the drenched stadium. Flocks of people were still running for their lives, brushing past him in a blur it seemed. Tidus stood up and decided to follow the crowd. He started to sprint off, but then he saw him, the mysterious man in red with the white jug standing not too far away. He approached him.  
  
"Auron!" Tidus called out. In the midst of all this uncertainty, it felt comforting to see someone he knew, someone who hopefully had all the answers he needed. "What are you doing here?"   
  
His low, deep, and serious voice answered back, "I was waiting for you."  
  
Not exactly what I wanted to hear, Tidus thought with pure dread. "What are you talking about?"   
  
Without answering, Auron turned around and walked off. Not understanding and having no plan of his own, Tidus followed him. Somehow, though, he lost Auron on a street of Zanarkand. More people flooded past him as he wandered aimlessly on the street. Zanarkand was his home and yet he no longer recognized it.   
  
He looked around, his eyes searching for Auron. Before his mouth could open to call out for him, everything around him suddenly froze. He stopped for a second and as he scanned the frozen people, captured in a moment of desperation and running, he began to panic.   
  
"It begins."  
  
Tidus darted around and saw a little boy in purple. He had heard this voice earlier. It sounded so familiar, like he should know it from somewhere else too.   
  
"Wha?" Baffled, Tidus felt the urge to scratch his head, but then the little boy whose face was hidden by the purple hood said something else.   
  
"Don't cry." His voice was soft, so eerie.   
  
Unexpectedly, time unfroze and the people captured in their running were suddenly freed and darting past him. Tidus gasped and looked around him.   
  
"What the . . .?" He trailed off. Then he caught a glimpse of Auron. "Hey! Wait!" he called out. He met up with Auron again. "Hey, not this way!" Even though he wasn't so certain himself, Tidus had a gut instinct that the way Auron was heading was not the way he wanted to go.   
  
Auron said instead, "Look!"   
  
Tidus gazed up at the ball of water hovering over Zanarkand, poised to strike it again, and he gasped in shock. What's going on? What is that?  
  
As if knowing the question on his mind, Auron declared, "We called it 'Sin.'"  
  
" 'Sin'?" Tidus repeated, not knowing what to make of it.   
  
Tentacles spewed out from the ball of water and smashed into a nearby building on the bridge-street they were standing on. Many small pods ejected from the tentacles and landed on the ground, blocking their paths. The pods opened up into small creatures that looked like insects, which surrounded Tidus in a demi-circle. He swatted at them with his hands, trying to fight them off, but to no avail. He only ended up falling backwards.   
  
"Take it," Auron commanded, handing Tidus a sword with a reddish tint to its blade.   
  
Tidus took the sword and raised it to the sky. It was so heavy that first moment that he nearly dropped it.   
  
"A gift from Jecht," Auron added.  
  
Surprised, Tidus asked, "My old man?"   
  
Tidus stepped forward, swinging the blade. Some of the insects moved backwards, but Tidus himself fell down back first and struggled to his feet once more.   
  
Feeling a little nervous although refusing to show it, Auron commented, "I hope you know how to use it."  
  
Finding a solid position now, Tidus held the sword with more confidence so that it now obeyed. They cut up some of the insects, but more fell pods fell to the ground, opening up another generation of the insects.   
  
"These ones don't matter," Auron told him. "We cut through!"  
  
Their swords found more of the insects and they killed them, but more continued to fall. It seemed pointless to Tidus at this point—no pun intended.  
  
Auron continued to instruct him. "Don't bother going after all of them. Cut the ones that matter, and run!"  
  
How am I supposed to know which ones are the ones that matter? Tidus felt like asking him, but he didn't. He followed Auron's lead, picking out ones that "mattered" and they ran forward through the small opening they had created. More pods dropped behind them.   
***  
Before they had even finished making their way through, Tidus heard a strange, loud noise. He looked up at Auron for guidance. Auron only began to run to the direction of the noise, pinpointing its exact location.   
  
They stopped and eyed a huge monster made out of tentacles, surrounded by some of the pods and winged insects from before. It was the Sinspawn Ammes, Auron knew.   
  
They struck it a few times, and they eventually defeated it. It blew up, signaling the end of that battle. Auron wasted no time in leaving. He ran ahead of Tidus, rather fast for man of his broad muscles and age. Tidus followed him.   
  
They ended up on the same bridge where Tidus had started, by the blitzball stadium. He remembered traveling down this bridge, listening to the blitzball announcer reflecting on the "good old days."   
  
As they continued to run past the billboard, Tidus gazed stoically at it but he felt the hatred bubbling up inside of him. "What are you laughing at, old man?" He turned his attention to Auron. "Auron! Let's get out of here!"  
  
Auron paused. "We're expected."   
  
"Huh?"   
  
Auron dashed off.   
  
"Gimme a break, man!" Tidus called out tiredly from behind him and then proceeded to follow him. He could do nothing else.   
  
More of the small pods fell onto the ground and now they were completely surrounded, swarmed in a sense.   
  
"Hmph," Auron sounded as if he was realizing the direness of the situation for the first time. "This could be bad." At that moment, he eyed a piece of machinery and turned Tidus's attention to it. "That—knock it down!"  
  
Utterly lost, Tidus asked, "What?"  
  
Auron remained firm. "Trust me. You'll see."  
  
They attacked the machine. Around the third or fourth hit, the machine began to rattle with energy. Another hit by Auron did the trick and it exploded, falling off the bridge and creating a massive explosion underneath them. The insects were now destroyed.   
  
It's like creaming two blitzball opponents with one tackle, Tidus could not help but think.  
  
But now, the bridge began to blow up. Chunks of it soared in the sky.   
  
"Go!" Auron shouted, urging him to do anything but stop.   
  
They resumed their running, nearly dodging the bridge blowing up not too far behind him. The bridge broke off in front of them, snapping in half. With fear growing in his heart and doubt, Tidus took a leap of blind faith and managed to clutch the edge of the other half of the broken bridge, which was now jutting upwards at the sky. He hung precariously on the ledge, not knowing how to get himself out of this tight spot.   
  
From above, Tidus saw Auron walking close by. He stood just above Tidus's hands.   
  
"Auron! Auron!"   
  
Sin, that ball of water, now hung close above them, gigantic and foreboding, sucking everything from below it into the sky, into that vault of water. It was like a vortex, only a water vortex. Auron looked up at it, at Sin.   
  
"You are sure?" It sounded like he was talking to it. He averted his gaze back to Tidus. "This is it," he announced. His hands reached out and picked up Tidus by the collar of his yellow shirt. "This is your story," he told him and then paused for dramatic effect.  
  
"It all begins here." 


	4. Alone

CHAPTER THREE: Alone  
  
HE WAS BLINDED by this immense light.  
  
"Hey! Hey!"  
  
Zanarkand seemed perfectly normal. The buildings were still standing, remaining ever so dignified. It was dark, yes, but the lights were shining brilliantly against the darkness. Zanarkand was still Zanarkand, from what Tidus could confirm, floating above the town in what felt like an eerie reverie.   
  
He must have been thousands of feet into the air, his arms flailing out to the side and flapping swiftly, as if he was in thin water. In front of him was a softly glowing, yet angrily roaring fire carved out into the shape of the Zanarkand's Abes' symbol: the triple-knot, the same symbol he wore around his neck with the silver chain and the same symbol pierced onto his right ear.  
  
"My . . . old man?"   
  
He was surrounded by his home, he was certain of it. He could see the ship where his apartment was. He could even see the stadium from afar. Everything was real . . . and yet, not. It didn't make sense, he knew. But the world around him had become languid and surreal.   
  
He didn't know what force guided him, but he found himself descending to glowing blow round platform. A young boy, the age of perhaps five or six, stood in the center with yellow shorts on and a blue jacket and a white shirt underneath.   
  
"I thought about a lot of things . . . like where I was, what I'd got myself in to. I started to feel light-headed . . . and then sleepy."  
  
The world that had flanked his side began to melt into purple swirls around him.   
  
"I think I had a dream. A dream of being alone. I wanted someone—anyone, beside me . . . so I didn't have to feel alone anymore."  
  
***  
  
The clouds gathered in the sky and gave a foreboding, ominous vibration. The only light in the desolate place came from the lightning flash behind the veil of the charcoal clouds. The sky looked like it wanted to weep, but it couldn't find the tears to.   
  
Stranded in the center of nowhere, on the surface of the cloudy water, Tidus laid flat against jagged edged rocks with smooth surfaces. He wanted to stay asleep, because if he did, that meant nothing could hurt him. It would mean that he would still be at home, safe in Zanarkand, preparing for another blitzball tournament. But the dream ended.   
  
His tingling fingers came to life first and then his whole body was resurrected. He lay on his stomach and propped his elbows onto the rocks to position himself more comfortably. He looked up at the spectral and shadowy sky. The heavy murky clouds drifted past him in the vault of the heavens, only to reveal more patches of storm.   
  
"Anybody there?"   
  
He surveyed his surroundings. He knew from his observations—as well as from the solid bottom of his uncertain heart—that there was no one here but him. He was alone.   
  
Yet still, he hoped that someone else would be here, to find him, to comfort him. He didn't like the loneliness, the absolute silence and stillness.  
  
"Auron!"   
  
There was, of course, no reply.  
  
He shouted at the strange new world. "Heeey!" The sound of his own echo confirmed his solitude.  
  
There was a bird perched on the jagged upright end of the rocks he was laying on. Upon looking at it, the bird darted away on agile legs and flapped its raven black wings against the matching sky, towards a structure made out of ruins, it appeared.   
  
Tidus hopped into the water and swam towards the structure of ruins, following the bird, leaving a trail of white ripples behind him, a shocking contrast to the blackness of the water. His feet found solid ground and underneath him, he saw the formation of stairs. He rose from the water and ascended the stone steps.   
  
He stopped to gaze at his surroundings before he went on.   
  
There seemed to be light here, but the light was dim and dismal. He could see, however, the stone arc he was approaching and the ruins after it. There was no other way. What else could he do but follow the only path there seemed to be for him?   
  
Tidus swiftly sprinted the stone path, passing by broken rocks. He made his way to another path with many cracks within it. It stood above the water. He looked down at the water below him.   
  
Unexpectedly, the stone bridge he had been following split. He was on solid ground, fortunately, and was not perturbed by this at all. But he was, however, curious. He leaned over and gazed at his distorted reflection in the opaque water. His blue eyes swept the water around him that could possibly become his grave. He moved down into the water for a better look.  
  
Floating upright in the water, Tidus grew still when he heard the sound of something tearing through the water. About a foot away from him, a little to his right side, a lime green fish with multiple bright yellow fins and red streaks bulleted out of the water.   
  
Where that unusually large fish had landed, another shot out from the water and arced back the way the other fish had come. Still, another fish sprang out from the water behind Tidus.   
  
He gathered up his breath—a nifty trick he had learned throughout his years as a blitzball player—and he dove headfirst into the murky waters. He sped past the trio of brightly-colored fish that seemed to be hungry. He came to a stop to face his opponents. There was nowhere to run at the moment. He was going to do what Auron had suggested a long time ago: "Cut the ones that matter."   
  
And now, Tidus had a strong belief, a confident one, that these were the ones that mattered.   
  
With the sword his fath—Jecht, my old man, he corrected himself—had supposedly given him, Tidus sliced up two of the three fish, so that one remained fluttering about in the water still.   
  
Even in the water, Tidus could feel the subtle rumblings of an oncoming creature that was much larger, much scarier . . . much stronger.   
  
From out of a humongous hole, a massively-scaled fish poked its grotesquely enormous body out of its dwelling. The side of its bulky body rubbed the stones that had piled up next to the hole of its dwelling.   
  
The yellow fish was clever. It spun around so quickly that its rear fins almost whipped it in the face, but no matter how clever it was, it was still unable to avoid the four-pointed beaks around the gargantuan round mouth of the hideous larger fish.   
  
Tidus slid to the side and watched as the larger fish swallowed stretched out towards the yellow fish and clamped down on its slender body. Dark blood squirted out of the yellow fish, a distinct mismatch of coloration.   
  
But the bigger fish caught a glimpse of an even better meal: Tidus.   
  
If it had eyes, which Tidus was unsure of, they were probably sparkling with the glimmer of a madman.   
  
The Geosgaeno, the enormous, ugly fish, opened its mouth and tossed away the puny yellow fish.   
  
Uh-oh, Tidus thought before the violent movements caused by the Geosgaeno's immeasurable weight fumbled him over in the water. He stood straight again and could only watch as the Geosgaeno reared its ugly head. Tidus knew that this was another "one" that mattered.   
  
The Geosgaeno shrieked in the water, sending out waves of sound and water at Tidus. He held his sword at his side, poised to strike, ready to take advantage of the pre-emptive situation. It rose up as well and exposed the underside of its lined belly, a weak spot for Tidus to pierce. Even though he had the upper hand, the Geosgaeno still managed to get in a round of hits that weakened Tidus's strength greatly.   
  
Mustering his strength, Tidus swam up to the creature to slash its underside. He backed away immediately, not knowing the result. He bowed his head, fatigued and more than ever wanting nothing but a comfortable bed to sleep in.   
  
But the Geosgaeno would allow him no such thing. It roared at him, snapping him to alertness, and began to pursue him through the water. Tidus backed off to the side and the creature brushed right past him, narrowly missing him. It slammed into a stone wall, causing more of the ruins on the surface to fall apart and drown in the water. The Geosgaeno, however, did not lose sight of its meal. It pulled away from the wall and followed Tidus with renewed interest.   
  
"Whoa!"  
  
Tidus had never known his legs could move so fast, but they had to, in order to keep him alive. He propelled himself forward, his legs pushing the water behind him as the Geosgaeno followed closely by.   
  
Like one of those yellow fish, Tidus popped out of the water, emerging for a moment of air and also to weigh the situation at hand. His gaze went from side to side and finally to an opening partially covered in water. Relief was hopefully at hand.  
  
He gulped oxygen into his lungs and dove headfirst back into the cool, murky water. He swam like a torpedo towards the opening, but it did not take long before the Geosgaeno closed the little distance in between them.   
  
Foolishly, Tidus glanced over his shoulder, only to be frightened at the rapid speed of the gargantuan creature only inches away from him. His arms were growing tired, but he forced them to work as he moved closer and closer to the opening. No matter how much closer and closer he got, however, it seemed that the Geosgaeno advanced closer to him by that same amount.   
  
Its large mouth opened wide for him and almost all of his body nearly fitted inside his mouth, one of the Geosgaeno's beaks hanging precariously above Tidus's head. He was unaware of the fact that he was being nearly close to getting swallowed; all he could see was the hole staring at him in the face, mocking him.   
  
He swam into it and the roar that the Geosgaeno emitted drove him even further through the opening. The creature was much too large to fit. Even its mouth would have had some difficulty. But Tidus made it through in one piece.  
  
That was most important at the moment.  
  
Tidus looked like he was doing a back flip as the strong currents of the water shoved him through another section of the opening he had just safely made it into. His bottom hit the rock on the ground and he could hardly keep his head up to see several boulders from above descending towards the ground, splashing tremendous water, and blocking the only exit he had seen thus far.   
  
"I had made it out of the frying pan . . . and into the freezer."  
  
He listened to the eerie echo of a trail of water dripping from the ceiling into the puddle on the floor. He, himself, sat on shallow water.   
  
"I thought I was going to die in this place."  
  
He pushed himself up on his feet, refusing to submit to his fears. He turned around and found a small flight of stairs. He dashed up the steps.  
  
Lightning flashed, illuminating a massive, grotesquely-looking statue with round grey eyes, an opened mouth shaped like an alligator with spiked fangs and wearing a cone-shaped hat of some kind. It looked like a soldier—an intimidating soldier.   
  
It was the first thing Tidus saw after he had removed some of the rubble and stones blocking the entrance. He emerged from the hole he had just cleared and walked to the center of the building, facing a wide water cascade. It almost looked like an ancient temple, ruined and shadowy, with its dark corners and circular design.   
  
He looked up at the waterfall before he realized just how cold he was. He shivered, his breath coming out in frosty white puffs and he rubbed his hands together.  
  
"Cold . . ." He shuddered again with the chilliness. "Need . . . fire."  
  
He forced himself to put his hands down to his hip, wanting to show some pride in this moment of uncertainty. He surveyed the large, empty temple and found a small place in the center where it seemed as if a fire had died out a while ago. He knew that this would be the perfect place to make a fire, if only he had the necessary materials: flint and tinder.   
  
When he spoke, his breaths came out in tiny white clouds. He was not just going to stay here and freeze to death. If he had made it out of the frying pan, he was certain he could just as well make himself out of the freezer.  
  
***  
  
With flint and tinder in his hands, he knelt down at the fire site and struck the two together, each time igniting a small spark that died as quickly as it had come. Finally, on the fifth try, the fire burst to life, causing him to stand up and take a few steps backwards.  
  
The fire glowed, illuminating the darkened walls of the temple. The several balconies were brownish-orange, with golden designs that had a complexity and originality to them that could not be replicated.  
  
The blazing flames of the fire roared soothingly, biding Tidus to come sit down and warm his hands above them. Moments later, feeling a lot more comfortable with a "night-light," Tidus laid down on the floor by the consoling fire and gazed at the remarkable, high-rise, domed ceiling of the temple.  
  
It was so incredibly huge. It must have taken titans to create a thing so tall.   
  
Sure Zanarkand had its elevated buildings, but they were touched with modernism. Looking at the buildings, one would see that they were easy to duplicate. But this, this temple radiated a sense of antiquity, like some enormous lost piece of unknown history. There were secrets buried in this place. Tidus could feel the whispers and murmurs of these such enigmas. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to feel in awe at this remarkable temple, or in dread that he may never leave it.   
  
But something else intervened, gnawing at his gut.  
  
"I need food!" he whined, the hunger pangs getting the best of him.  
  
He figured that if he went to sleep, he may just forget about his hunger, even for a little while.   
  
***  
  
He stood with his arms behind his head, in his apartment, standing by the railing of the ramp, locking gazes with the man who had been more involved in his life than his own father.   
  
"What do you want?" Tidus questioned him.  
  
The man clothed in red with the white jug—Auron—answered him. "It was a bad call. Your team lost because of you."  
  
Tidus set his arms down, exasperated. "You came to say that?"  
  
Auron walked down the ramp, to the second landing. "It's been . . . ten years."  
  
Tidus nodded, now understanding.  
  
"I thought you'd be crying," Auron added as he made his way down the last of the ramp and then walked away from Tidus's line of vision.  
  
Offended, Tidus asked, "Who, me?"  
  
The little boy with the purple hood ran onto the second landing of the ramp and said softly, although still accusingly, "You cried."  
  
***  
  
Tidus hugged his knees to his chest, sitting close to the dying fire. His head bobbed gently up and down, as he stirred back to consciousness. The fire glowed, creating one last illumination of Tidus's lightly-tanned face. But now, as time had passed, the once blazing, searing flames of the fire had now become mere, white wisps.  
  
By the water cascade, a slithering creature hastened along the temple wall.   
  
Tidus felt a slight tingling sensation on the back of his neck. It was this that snapped him awake. He cocked his head from side to side to find out what exactly had just crawled past him, but his attention was averted to the dying fire.   
  
He promptly rose to his feet, pleading with the dying embers. "Hey, wait! Wait! Don't go out on me!" He put his face close to the wood, as if it had eyes, as if it would somehow sympathize with his present situation. He rose and gestured for the fire to "wait." The situation would have been comical, if he wasn't so desperate. "Just hold on," he continued frantically. "I'll get more wood!"  
  
He darted around to find the wood, but something he sensed caused him to freeze. A streak of lightning and Tidus saw clearly the agile insect clinging to the wall in front of him.  
  
They stared at each other; Tidus studied the insect carefully. Its four legs looked like two long black sharp talons. Its body was slender, as well as its head, which had a pair of talons protruding from it.   
  
Its eyes gleamed a bright menacing red hue before the insect scurried across the circular balconies. Tidus could only watch in awe as the insect traveled the temple in a matter of seconds. It stopped behind the water cascade, where shortly afterwards, it paused and then lunged to the ground in front of Tidus.   
  
Its heavy talons created a brief cloud of golden dust and cracked the ground underneath when it landed. It stood up on its hind legs and stretched out its talons, displaying its power in spite of its thin size.   
  
Tidus lifted his sword and stood in a defensive battle position, ready to attack the insect Klikk.   
  
It wasn't even half the size of the Geosgaeno, but it managed to tire him out. He was on bended knee, with the blade of his sword planted in the ground next to him to keep him steady. He panted heavily, staring the soon-to-be victor in the eyes. Surely he was going to die.  
  
He mustered his strength for what would most likely be his final strike at the insect Klikk. He hastened to it and slashed it with his sword.  
  
Unexpectedly, one of the temple doors exploded with fire. The door shattered into chunks of heavy rocks, littering the ground.   
  
Tidus covered his face with his forearm. He dared to catch a glimpse of what would now come through the door. Part of him expected salvation. The other part of him expected certain death.  
  
A group of four or five men walked in, wearing bright colored full body suits with goggles masking their faces. They stood at the door, intimidating in their frozen stance. A second later, they ran forward, stopped again, and aimed their machina guns. They clicked the trigger, ready to shoot.   
  
A young woman, equally dressed as strange as the others, led the group. She stood with one hand to her hip and had a manner of youthfulness and authority.  
  
Tidus wasn't sure what to make of her. She didn't look like she cared for his struggles, but at the same time, why would she and her men come to his aid?   
  
Or are they here to help me? Tidus questioned himself. A sense of doom settled over him.   
  
But then, just when he expected the worst, the girl began to walk calmly towards him, adjusting the cuffs on her wrists. She approached his side, planted a firm foot in front of her, out her arms down to her side, and motioned with her hand for the insect Klikk to "bring it on."  
  
This was a sign of relief for Tidus. Suddenly, he felt more hopeful at the moment, and in response to the certainty that the girl had come to his aid, he chirped, "You on my side? Cool!"  
  
The girl made the first move. She brought out grenades and hurled them at the insect Klikk. There was another burst of fire as the creature was struck with the grenades.   
  
Tidus swung his blade at it, and finally, light spheres that had a flowing trail of blue and purple emanated from the creature as it toppled onto the ground lifelessly and vanished.   
  
Relief filled him, but now there was another matter at hand. Who was this girl who had just rescued him? —And why did she save him?  
  
He came face-to-face with her as she removed the goggles from her face. She cocked her head from side to side, eyeing Tidus as curiously as he was eyeing her. Tidus gawked at her with his mouth open, but when he noticed that she did not mean him any harm, he knelt down and sighed, alleviated.   
  
"Whew!" he breathed. "That was close."  
  
One of the men, with a blonde beard, stalked over to Tidus's side and clutched a handful of his spiked blond hair, lifting him up off the ground.   
  
Startled by the aggressiveness, Tidus implored, "Hey, lemme go!" I thought they were here to help me. He struggled, his arms flailing out, but the grip on his hair remained firm. The more he struggled, the more pain he felt, like his hair was literally being ripped from his scalp.   
  
More men surrounded him and pointed their machina guns at him.   
  
From behind him, Tidus heard a thick, deep voice uttering a language he had neither heard of nor understood. "What is this?"  
  
A man to Tidus's other side replied in that same odd language, "A fiend! In human disguise!"  
  
A voice assented, or so it sounded like to Tidus. "Yes! It is so!"  
  
Tidus had the urge to scratch his head in bafflement.   
  
Another man standing behind him snatched him away from the grip of the bearded man. Tidus thought he was momentarily free, but instead, the new man drew a wickedly curved knife and pressed it against the soft flesh of his throat.   
  
To whimper and squirm would have been too pathetic. Instead, Tidus thought desperately, Wow, that's really sharp.  
  
"We kill it?"  
  
Tidus could tell it was a question. It was formatted as one. The most he could hope for was the question being: "Should we let him go?" But he sincerely doubted that, seeing that there was still the matter of a glimmering blade up to his throat.  
  
The girl spoke up, her voice high and cheery. "Wait! What if it is human?"  
  
If only Tidus could understand what she was saying, but it sounded like she was arguing on his behalf, and if she was, this would make the second time she had saved him.   
  
The man holding the knife did not seem pleased with the girl's comments. He flipped the handle of the knife in his hands and pointed it at the girl. "They are the same in death," he told her.   
  
Vehemently, the girl protested against whatever the knife-holder had said. "I forbid it! We bring it with us!"  
  
She closed the distance between herself and Tidus, whose night blue eyes widened when he heard her whisper into his ear, "Cunno," which meant "sorry" in her language.   
  
Immediately afterwards, he felt her solid knee strike his stomach with the most sickening sound he had ever heard. His hands went to his belly and his eyes sealed tight in pain. He collapsed to his knees, feeling like he would vomit.   
  
The world around him quickly faded to black, the face of the blond girl who had been his savior disappearing before he finally crumbled to the ground. 


	5. The Al Bhed

CHAPTER FOUR: The Al Bhed  
  
DARKNESS FELL ON THIS DESOLATE PLACE, where a massive ship sat on top of the vast black ocean. Round lights sent out beams of luminosity into the dim ocean.   
  
On this very ship, floating on top of the ocean, Tidus laid still for hours. Finally, he started stirring, waking back to consciousness. He still felt pain in his joints and he knew he needed to stretch, badly.   
  
He looked up to see the group of men standing with their backs facing him. So it really wasn't a dream. His vision was a little blurred, so the figures of the men seemed to echo, in a sense. The beams emitted from the small spotlights allowed Tidus a better look at the men. He was positive that they were the same ones from earlier.  
  
Just when his vision had clarified, one of the men darted around and saw that Tidus was now standing up. He aimed his machina gun at him warningly and shouted, "Sit, captive!"  
  
Tidus stumbled back onto the railing when the point of the gun nudged at him with enough force to send him backwards. He didn't have to speak their language to understand that last demand.   
  
He slid down to his bottom and he sat on the surface of the ship deck. "Hey, that hurts!" he hollered.   
  
Another man pointed his round gun at Tidus. "No moving, hear?"  
  
"Whoa . . . Okay," he complied.   
  
From behind those two men, a weird door opened and his blond savior walked through with another guy whose tattooed chest was not even half as odd as his hairstyle of choice: all of his hair had been shaved off, save for a long arc of thick blond hair that stood up in the middle of his otherwise bald head.   
  
One of the men who had held a gun at Tidus turned to see the girl and her companion with the weird hairstyle and showy tattoos. Promptly, he bowed his head.   
  
Tidus gazed at the girl intently as she and her tattooed companion approached him with a heavy stride.   
  
The tattooed man spoke first in that same puzzling language. "Search him!"  
  
The blond girl who now stood behind him helped Tidus to his feet.   
  
The tattooed man in front of him started grunting and making weird gestures with arms. Tidus understood the beginning of it. He was trying to show swimming.   
  
Tired, Tidus mumbled, "Right. Whatever."  
  
The tattooed man made a few more gestures before he looked at Tidus curiously. "Do you not speak?" he asked Tidus and Tidus would have answered, had he understood the question. The tattooed man held out a technologically-stylized necklace in his palm and displayed it in front of Tidus. He pointed at it several times and made weird noises that sounded like he was about to wretch.  
  
"I said I don't understand!" Tidus declared hotly.  
  
One of the men thrust forward and held the sharp end of his bladed gun inches away from Tidus's abdomen. "Insolence!"  
  
The girl came up closer behind Tidus and waved her hand at the men holding their guns. "Wait!" She turned to Tidus and said softly in a language he spoke as well, "He said you can stay if you make yourself useful."  
  
Stunned, Tidus turned his head to the side to face the girl. "You . . . You understand me?" he asked. The upper half of his body fell forward when one of the men struck him in the back with his machina gun. "All right," he agreed. "I'll work!"  
  
Tidus walked over to the side of the boat. "What's this?" he inquired. "Some kind of crane?"  
  
The tattooed man yelled at him. "Hey, you! Get away from there!"  
  
Tidus moved back. "All right, all right! You don't have to shout!" he resigned and then walked over to the girl when she began to speak.  
  
"We found some ancient ruins right beneath us," she commenced, excitement bubbling her girly, merry voice. "It's not active now, but there should still be some power left. We're gonna go down there and activate it . . . and then we should be able to salvage the big prize!"   
  
Tidus crossed his arms and murmured under his breath. After all, he had agreed to work.  
  
The girl soared up her arms and chirped, "Okay! Let's get to work!"  
  
"Roger!" Tidus whooped and then sprinted across the deck, hopped onto the railing, and with one final glance over his shoulder, he plunged into the icy water.   
  
The girl signaled at the men behind her and followed Tidus into the water.   
  
***  
  
Tidus bobbed gently in the water, looking out at some peculiar structure in the very depths of the ocean while he waited for the girl to accompany him. She swam up behind him and he led the way.   
  
At a closer look, he saw that they were some sort of underwater ruins with glaring red lights peering out into the darkness.   
  
They approached the colossal structure embedded onto the rocks on the ocean floor. They entered inside the underwater ruins and traveled through the long corridor, which had rows of electric machina glowing on the sides.   
  
The girl stopped and waited as Tidus swam up to a pitch black flat screen propped up on a table. In front of the flat screen podium looked like a squared door divided into three parts, marked by a glowing floral design.   
  
He slammed his fist onto the flat screen a few times, and as he did so, the screen turned blue with life. Bright text appeared on the screen as he hit it.  
  
Several punches later, the divided sections of the door slid into the frame and created an entryway for Tidus and the girl.   
  
They swam into a large corridor, moving past rows of what looked like someone's ribcage. At the end of the passage was a huge piece of machina, with neon green tubes jutting from the center of the machina. In the center, encased within a cage, was the form of a lightning green crystal. Tidus approached the machina.   
  
He punched the cylindrical cage until suddenly, the bottom of the cage flared to life with bright circular lights. The cage began to move, bouncing up and down, doing more than a mere rippling of water around them.  
  
One of the long corridors that Tidus and his comrade had passed through ignited into an eerie shade of blood red upon the activation of the machina in the other room. A creature swam past the room, its peace perturbed, and now detecting fine morsels in the underwater ruins.   
  
***  
  
Tidus left the room with the girl bringing up the rear. They swam through a hallway and returned to the room where they first began, seeing the purple tentacles of the creature. It was the first thing that Tidus noticed because it stood out against the darkness.   
  
On top of the sinewy tentacles was a hard-shelled head. Tidus had only heard of this ocean-dwelling creature from his mother; he had never thought he would come face-to-face with it, the Tros.   
  
Fortunately, the girl had a good supply of hand grenades that she chucked at the Tros, shaking its jelly-like body. Tidus hacked through the hard shell of its head with the same sword that had been his pride and joy thus far. For it had kept him alive. But would it work again?  
  
The girl threw another grenade at it and it suddenly combusted into the water, mixing in with the liquid, and leaving only light spheres in its wake.  
  
They gazed at the literally electrifying room that they were in, feeling the power of it surge through their own bodies.   
  
The girl looked on in awe. She had found precisely what she had come here to look for.   
  
***  
  
On the surface of the underwater ruin, one of the spotlights lifted slowly up and then it was turned on, brought back to life, and its beam shone powerfully through the shadowy ocean water. Another light came on and another until all the lights surrounding the ruins had been activated and piercing through the darkness of the ocean bottom.   
  
Tidus floated by one of the beams from the spotlight, an insignificant speck by the great beam of light. Now that there was light, Tidus could see what he and the girl had uncovered.  
  
It was not exactly underwater ruins. They were certainly ruins, ancient and powerful, but they looked like the ruins of some vessel or craft.   
  
Tidus and the girl emerged to the surface and swam back towards the ship.  
  
***  
  
The men approached the railing, still wearing their body suits and goggles.   
  
"We found the airship!" one of them declared.  
  
Another person said softly, "The records were right."  
  
Tidus hopped over the railing and landed on his feet. He shook his body, drying himself off like a dog would.   
  
The men headed towards the door that led into a boat. One of them asked, "Now, how to drag it up?"  
  
Naturally, not knowing otherwise, Tidus followed them until they stopped in front of the door. One of the men turned to him and pointed across from them. In that same language, he shouted, "Oui, uidceta!"  
  
Tidus did not move. He did not understand the command.   
  
To help him out, the man who had just spoken to him slugged him on the shoulder. Tidus took a step back, but he nonetheless felt offended. "Hey, I helped out, didn't I?" he reminded them, but they ignored him.  
  
They moved through the door and faced him as it shut, leaving him alone on the deck.   
  
***  
  
The beams of the lights swiftly moved across the black night sky. Tidus kept his vision on it; it was the only amusement he had at the time, but it wasn't enough of a distraction to keep him from the hunger rumbling inside his stomach.  
  
He rubbed his stomach and groaned, "Uhh . . . hungry."  
  
The night fell all around him, but it didn't help to ease his hunger pains. He tightened his closed eyelids and tried to focus on getting his stomach to stop rumbling. Back in Zanarkand, he had never starved. Whenever he needed food, it would always be there to nourish the star player of the Zanarkand Abes. And his mother, when she was alive she had always kept her only son well fed . . . that was, until, her depression after Jecht disappeared.   
  
Feeling the fury overcome him more than the hunger itself, Tidus chose to focus on the empty pit known as his stomach rather than the emptiness he felt inside known as his life.   
  
Absorbed in this concentration, Tidus did not hear the oncoming footsteps approaching him until he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder from a kick. His propped elbow came down and he darted his head to see the girl holding a tray of—food?  
  
She set it down in front of him and for a moment, Tidus could only stare at the vivid, colorful hues of his salvation.   
  
Finally snapping back to what he had in front of him, he whooped, "Whoa! Right on!"   
  
He picked up the tray with his left hand and used only his right hand to dig into the food and bring the chunks into his mouth. His senses came alive with the tanginess of a meal much needed. He was wolfing down the food so fast that he had hardly any time to savor the spicy kick to it, or the sweet aftertaste flavor.   
  
What he did have time to savor was the fact that the food was clogging up his throat. He paused and started to choke. He tried to find an airway for his lungs, but the delectable cuisine was making it difficult for him. For a moment, he was certain he was going to die, and there was some comedy involved in the way that he would die—not from the colossal Geosgaeno or from the lithe Klikk or even from the slippery, hard-shelled Tros; it would be from eating too fast and not chewing enough.  
  
He pounded his fist against his chest, as if it would open up a clogged airway, and looked around the floor for something to help him.  
  
"Hey!" the girl shouted before tossing him a flagon of water.   
  
Tidus tore open the lid and swallowed nearly all the water in two breaths, hoping to force the food into the tubes that led to his stomach, and not to obstruct anymore necessary passageways.   
  
When he felt the food slither down his throat, he exhaled a breath of relief. He had gotten so caught up in all his hunger that he forgot the number one lesson his mother had taught him: "Don't eat too fast, Tidus. I wouldn't want my little Blitzball player turning blue."  
  
The girl squat down in front of him. "It's 'cause you eat too fast!" she echoed coincidentally, but then again, Tidus doubted if there were any such things as "coincidences" anymore. He had felt, from the moment that Auron had showed up in Zanarkand, that everything from here on out would be forever changed—and none of it would be pure luck either.   
  
Tidus took one last look at the tray of food before he set it down and staggered to his feet, as if his weight was suddenly too heavy for him. He approached the railing of the ship and stretched out his arms as far as his limbs could protract. His muscles were long overdue for a good stretching. As an athlete, he knew that stretching after a game was as important as stretching before it. And he felt, that this was the beginning of one long game . . . and for a moment, he wondered how long this game would last and if he would survive long enough to stretch at the end.   
  
The sound of the girl coming up behind him brought Tidus back to where he was now. "Hey!" the girl chirped.  
  
Tidus spun around to look at the girl, the only familiar face he knew, and yet, for the first time, he realized that he still didn't even know her name, only that she had a knack for showing up at the right place, at the right time. "Hello there," he said with a warm half-smile. "What is your name?" he sought.  
  
"Rikku."  
  
Tidus's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets from being so shocked. He seized the girl's—Rikku's—hands and shook her excitedly with an amazing discovery. "Whoa! You really do understand!"   
  
He raised her hands above her head, which Rikku found as the perfect opportunity to break out of his frighteningly ecstatic handshake. "Woo hoo!" Tidus yelped and turned away, laughing the breath out of his lungs.   
  
He placed his hands on his hips and stopped laughing. The silence did not last for very long because Tidus had another question to ask of Rikku. He walked back to her. "Why didn't you say so earlier?" he wondered.  
  
Rikku put up her hands as if to signify the beginning of her explanation. "I didn't get a chance to!" she exclaimed. "Everyone thought oui were a fiend."  
  
Once again, Tidus had to curb that nagging impulse to scratch his heads. "Uh . . . 'we'?"  
  
Realizing her mistake, Rikku clarified, "Oh, 'oui' means 'you'."  
  
Tidus paused, uncertain of whether or not he understood that. When he didn't reply, Rikku turned and started walking away. Tidus half-turned to look at her and he asked the question that had been burning in his mind since they blew down the temple doors.   
  
"Who are you guys, anyway?" Though he did not mean it to sound offensive, it came off slightly as so.  
  
Rikku folded her arms on the railing and leaned against it, gazing in awe at the peering black ocean. "We're Al Bhed. Can't you tell?" She hesitated a little too late. She turned around to look at Tidus worriedly. "Wait. You're not an Al Bhed-hater, are you?"   
  
Tidus replied honestly, "I don't even know what an Al Bhed is." This fact made him realize that he was far away from home . . . and he missed it.   
  
"Where are you from?" Rikku asked.   
  
Tidus looked around aimlessly and took a few steps forward. He halted briefly to answer Rikku's question, taking a step to his side, placing one yellow boot out in front of him, to direct his reply to her.  
  
"Zanarkand," he told her and came up closer to her. "I'm a blitzball player." Tidus pretended to hold a blitzball out in front of him and to kick it. He made this motion so skillfully that it was obvious he practiced. "Star player of the Zanarkand Abes!" he glorified. He took pride in what he did and what he did best.   
  
Concerned for him, Rikku inquired softly, "Did you hit your head or something?"   
  
Tidus took a few steps forward, still leaving some space in between them as he reminded her, "Um, you guys hit me."  
  
Sheepishly, Rikku spoke again, "Oh, right . . . Do you remember anything before that?"  
  
Tidus walked up to the railing beside Rikku, placed his hands on the bars, and fixed his eyes on the endless vision of black. The horizon where the ebony ocean met the dusky sky was separated only by a dull gray streak.   
  
"So I told her everything there was to tell about Zanarkand . . . About life there, blitzball, and Sin's attack . . . and about how Auron and I were engulfed in this light. I just said things as they came to mind. But then I started to wonder."  
  
By the time Tidus had finished his story, Rikku's expression had taken on graveness. Tidus turned his head to look at her. Rikku had her back against the railing and she was looking off, somberly.  
  
"Did I say something funny?" he asked.  
  
Rikku tried to gather up an explanation. "You were near Sin," she started and Tidus could only nod in agreement.   
  
Jovially, she turned to face him with new hope shimmering in her eyes. "Don't worry, you'll be better in no time," she promised him, although better from what, Tidus still pondered. "They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you just had some kind of dream?"  
  
It sounded reasonable.   
  
"You mean I'm sick?"  
  
"Because of Sin's toxin, yeah," Rikku rationalized.   
  
"You sure?" —Because Tidus certainly wasn't sure.   
  
Rikku gave him the details he would need to be certain. "Yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore."  
  
Tidus's heart exploded with alarm. Zanarkand? My home? Gone? No, it can't possibly be.   
  
But Rikku went on, adding further to the credibility of her story. "Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago."  
  
No, no, not a thousand years ago. Just a few days ago, maybe even just yesterday, Tidus denied and yet, he could not help the feeling that Rikku may be . . . right.  
  
"So . . . no one plays blitzball there," Rikku concluded and walked away.  
  
Tidus cocked his head to see her, his face full of astonishment. "What do you mean, a thousand years ago?" He refused to allow himself to believe this. It just wasn't possible . . . or was it?   
  
"But I saw Sin attack Zanarkand!" Tidus insisted. He had to admit that at times, he was often as headstrong as his old man. He stalked over to where she now stood, frozen to the marrow at his vehement conviction. "You're saying that happened a thousand years ago? No way!"  
  
"You said . . . You play blitzball?"  
  
With a nod of his head, Tidus verified it with an "Uh huh."  
  
"You know, you should go to Luca," Rikku suggested. Even though she had helped him severely in the past hours, she still felt like it wasn't enough, now with the knowledge that Tidus did not even know—or understand, it seemed—about the destruction of Zanarkand.   
  
Seeing the puzzled look on his face, Rikku added, "Someone might know who you are, or you might find someone you recognize."  
  
Tidus repeated, "Luca?" What kind of a weird name is that? It sounded like the name of his only uncle.   
  
Rikku sighed, exasperated. She shook her head and paced around in the trail of an oddly-looking shape, almost a figure eight. She swung her arms and took a glance at the powerful vessel she stood on.   
  
With charged hope, she stamped up to Tidus and tapped his shoulder. "Okay, leave it to me!" she pledged to him. "I'll get you to Luca, promise! . . . You'd rather stay here?"   
  
"Uh uh." It was difficult to understand his two-word repeated comment, but it was an agreement.   
  
Tidus knew that he should feel comforted by Rikku's enthusiastic pledge, but he didn't feel that going to Luca would somehow resolve all his problems. If anything, they would only add onto them. He just didn't know what to do, or where to go. Stay on an Al Bhed ship or go to some place that reminded him of his goofy uncle from his mother's side of the family. Either way, both options did not seem very promising, but at least he wouldn't be stuck in a frying pan or a freezer.   
  
"Okay, I'll go tell the others. Wait here."   
  
Just as she began to leave, Rikku slowly turned around again. "Oh, and one thing. Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, okay? Yevon says it's a holy place. You might upset someone."  
  
Yevon?   
  
Although, Tidus did not understand, he murmured in compliance, "Oh . . . uh huh." Tidus watched Rikku leave and when she did, he returned to the railing and placed all of his weight there.   
  
"My Zanarkand, some kind of holy place? Yeah right, I thought. Since when? Yevon? Sin? Luca? I thought Sin just took me to a faraway place, that I could go back in a day or two. But a thousand years into the future? No way!"  
  
He was so frustrated. He didn't know what to do. All he knew was that he hated this sense of helplessness.   
  
He moved away from the wall he was leaning against and turned to look at where one of the Al Bhed had instructed him to come near earlier, the crane area.   
  
Tidus stared long and hard at it, as if it would provide some answers. How did this all start? Why me?  
  
His mind flashed back on thoughts of his beloved Zanarkand, on the blitzball tournament that his team was winning, and on Sin's fashionably late appearance that had disrupted the game and destroyed his home. But what his mind fell upon was an image of Auron, who had been waiting for him at the broken entrance of the stadium.  
  
Auron . . . The man he had been like a father to him for ten years. But now, Tidus's blood boiled at the knowledge that Auron played some part in all of this.   
  
If he could only get his hands on Auron now . . . It didn't matter that Auron was way older than him and physically stronger, Tidus would use all the power in his six-pack body to wring Auron's neck.   
  
His desire to wring Auron's neck came across as a thrust kick to the crane area. His high thrust kick landed him on the ground after tumbling back and hitting the railing.   
  
The ground underneath Tidus suddenly started to shake and a deep, roaring rumble sounded in the calmness of the night air.   
  
In the distance of the ocean, some form or object skyrocketed out of the ocean, taking the water with it.   
  
On the deck, the ship continued to quiver, becoming more violent with each second.   
  
The door at the deck that Tidus was not allowed entrance to flipped open and two of the Al Bhed soldiers came out with their machina guns—as if that would help.  
  
One of the soldiers toppled onto the ground when the ship trembled again and shook it off, proceeding to rise. The other Al Bhed darted across the deck only to see this tower of pure white water torpedoing towards the ship.  
  
"Sin!"   
  
That much Tidus understood.   
  
"Sin is come! Under us! Under us!"   
  
Tidus rose and stood at the railing, looking out into the ocean, trying to spot this creature that had caused him so many problems. Water sprayed out in front of Tidus and he bolted away, only to find that the water was emerging all around the ship. He stood and stared at it, meeting its challenge.   
  
The water rushed onto the ship, covering the deck and leaving moisture in its path. The force of the water shoved Tidus up and over the railing.   
  
With a cry, he fell overboard.   
  
As he did so, he looked up to see some of the Al Bhed members and Rikku even peering at him from over the railing, but they were helpless to do anything.   
  
Sin would have its way.   
  
A tempestuous whirlpool, the size of perhaps the whole ocean, disguised in the raging waters swallowed Tidus. His mouth was wide open, but no sound came out. 


End file.
